A collaborative blog about SF/F fandom: the music, the costumes, but mostly the books.

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Set Them Free

I know. You’re all nodding your heads yes and looking around at your piles of books. At what would be the problem with that? The human eyeballs can only read so much per day, per week, per month, and hence per year. With that realization, comes the conclusion that I have too many books.

And the library has many of the same books. And I have a library card. I also have El Internet, which gives me nearly unlimited access to book-like entertainment.

So, I say it is time to set some of my books free. Out into the world. To some other eager reader’s gaze.

Paperbackswap is one of my favorite methods for obtaining used books and for passing on my books. I like the idea of some individual out there actually requesting one of my books. I feel like it is going some place where it is wanted. And that makes it easier to set some of my papery friends free.

For every book that is requested, you get 1 credit. You can also list audiobooks, which are worth 2 credits. Your books ship out, you get credits, and then you can turn around and pick out other books.

But it gets even better. Paperbackswap has siblings. You can use those credits on CDSwap and DVDswap and viceversa. I love sending out some old highschool required reading classics and getting some crazy Himalayan music. Or listing some cheezy action flick and using that credit to pick up a space opera audiobook.

If you’re feeling that it’s time to set some of your books free, Paperbackswap might be for you.

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2 thoughts on “Set Them Free”

I just have to say I disagree with the initial premise; I believe you can never have too many books, it’d be like having too much fun. This thought came up in an earlier post “What’s in Your Library?”. I found the earlier post amusing as my experience is so dynamically opposite. My Dad doesn’t like to read so it was frowned upon to have books lying around. Growing up we didn’t go to bookstores, yard sales or swaps. I used to feel guilty when I had too many books from the library. Now I enjoy collecting books. I feel that my library reflects me, not only by the books I have read or want to read, but maybe even in those I don’t intend to read.

This is not to say that I don’t understand not having room for all the books you’d like to have. And kudos to anyone giving books to support other readers, bookstores and community! I love my Kindle and I’m even a bit addicted to audiobooks, but nothing will ever be the same as ink on paper in my heart.

Lately, with the availability of audiobooks and ebooks, I have been wanting the paperbooks to reflect what I really, really enjoy. Of course, I have also reserved a ‘slush’ shelve for the books I am interested in reading and may or may not get to.